Note: You’ll want to budget enough time to receive and review team applications. We suggest sending the Announcement Letter three months prior to the event date.

The application review should consider nutrition requirements, meal cost, and recipe creativity. Keep all recipe forms for each team so that they can be returned to contestants at the end of the cooking competition.

Make your team selections within a month of the event date so that contestants have time to prepare for the competition.

Invite students from the teams that were not invited to compete to serve as kid judges for the competition.

Select food service judges; can include the director, production chef, registered dietician, and others employees from the food service department.

Identify popular restaurants in the area and invite community chefs to judge.

Identify potential competition sponsors and send out a Community Sponsor Letter. Community sponsorships and donations can come in many forms:

Setting up Cooking Stations

Teams are encouraged to bring any equipment they might need, but you should also set up a basic cooking station for them. This list includes important station must-haves:

5 to 6 tables (8’ recommended, one extra for a judging table)

5 to 6 portable burners with 2 butane cans each

Sauté pans for each team (12” recommended)

A chef’s knife, spatula, whisk, serving spoon, dish towel, and cutting board for each team

4 clean plates and 1 cup for each table (two plates for judging, two for public tasting, cup for milk requirement)

Signs with team names on each station

Tasting spoons at each station

Gloves and sanitizer bucket

Day of the Junior Chef Competition

Setup individual cooking stations.

Setup the judging table with napkins, tasting forks, knives, and a bin for dirty silverware.

Meet with judges to go over judging criteria and encourage them to write notes throughout the competition.

Welcome everyone and go over the following information:

Explain competition guidelines, timing of cooking, and presenting.

Introduce teams, food service judges, guest chefs, and kid judges.

Start the competition.

Throughout the cooking time have the MC talk to each team and ask how they chose their recipe, how they prepared for the competition, etc. Also ask kid judges what they look for in a school lunch or what recipe they’re most excited to try. Find out more about chef judges and why they came out to judge the competition.

End cooking time and begin the plate presentations. Tier presentation times if desired. Have each team describe their recipe (two plates should be brought up) before the judges taste the dish. Clear plates to make space for the next team.

Event Follow-Up

Send a follow-up email or letter for administration to distribute to school parents. Include pictures and any fun kid quotes or comments from the day. This will inform parents who were unable to attend or didn’t hear about the event, possibly motivating them to participate in the future.

Thank-you letters are always a good way to get your volunteers coming back for more. Be sure to send your volunteers a quick thank-you to let them know you appreciate their help.